Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Alana Wyatt -- the former Mrs. Mos Def -- is releasing a book about her life as a video girl and momentary marriage to Mos. Via SOHH.com: Wyatt was married to the Brooklyn-bred emcee (born Dante Smith) in a ceremony last year. Her book entitled, Breaking the Code of Silence, will detail her short lived marriage to Mos as well as her own life. Described as part biography, part cautionary tale, Wyatt writes of her rough upbringing in the book, aiming to educate and inspire other women and to promote independence.

Remember when Biggie sampled Diana Ross singing, "I'm coming out"? Well, certain sections of hip hop are about to sing a similar tune. Via HoustonVoice.com: We all know that rap and hip hop music hasn't always been friendly to the gays. Now Terrance Dean, a former MTV executive, is about to release his book, "Hiding in Hip Hop: On the Downlow in the Entertainment Industry," next month. From the press release: "Hiding In Hip-Hop" uncovers a hidden and well-known unspoken secret. Deep within the confines of Hip-Hop is a prominent gay sub-culture. A world that industry insiders are keenly aware of, but choose to ignore. According to Dean, 'This book is filled with intrigue, sexy celebrity bed partners, abundance of drugs, and of course, the down low/gay men and celebrities in the entertainment industry.'"

Women and Language ("an international, interdisciplinary research periodical publishing thought‑provoking essays and inquiries, book reviews, bibliographies, and more") is seeking submissions for a special issue dedicated to “Hip Hop’s Languages of Love.” The issue will focus on love in hip hop as it relates to language and gender, and will be published in the Fall of 2009. For more info, click here.

One last hip hop book news tid-bit, this one regarding recent Pulitzer Prize winner, Junot Díaz. In a recent interview with The Latino Daily News, Díaz describes the fast paced rhythm of his writing thusly: “I think it would be fair to say that I write in a definitely perico ripiao-meets dungeon-family hip-hop beats.” Rap heads will get the reference, the rest of you can Google it.

From blinking lights to singing advertisements, the magazine industry is doing all it can to stay relevant in the internet age. But will successfully aping the sensory experience of the net cover for the fact that their 'breaking news' is actually days or even (gasp!) weeks old? The International Herald Tribune looks into it.

Oh, Amazon.com, you've done it again. Via Publisher's Weekly: Author Solutions, the Indiana-based parent company of subsidy publishers AuthorHouse and iUniverse, the company has acceded to Amazon.com’s recent demand that publishers’s print-on-demand titles be printed by BookSurge, Amazon.com’s POD subsidiary, if they wish to continue to make these titles available for sale on Amazon.com.

Monday, April 21, 2008

Michigan public access show Cult Pop interviews Canadian author Corey Redekop about his novel Shelf Monkey, a satire of the world of television Book Clubs, low-wage bookstore employees, madness, and revenge.

The 42nd annual Nebula Awards (Science Fiction's answer to the Oscars) are being held in Austin, Texas this year. Sunday's Austin Chronicle had a brief bio of the award, along with an interview with an aspiring SF author who admits that the Nebulas are 'pretty incestuous' and definitely a case of 'who-knows-who.' The author still plans to attend, though, as "its a good chance to network with people – there'll be other authors there and agents and editors. I suppose I've been thinking, somewhere in the back of my mind, that I might take an agent or editor hostage long enough for Stockholm syndrome to set in."Are you a sucker for this sort of thing? C'mere article. C'mere boy.

More and more websites are popping up that use Google Maps to chart where various movies/books/TV shows are set . The Guardian UK writes about one of the lit-related sites, GetLondonReading.co.uk. Click here to read.

The LATimes profiles a three man literary 'movement' that sells itself as rebellious, but actually sounds snooty as all get out. An excerpt: Outside of a few college towns, perhaps, it's hard now to embrace the cerebral unapologetically without a sense of irony, of operating a bit out of time. But that didn't stop Keith Gessen and some Ivy League-educated friends from launching, in 2004, the ambitious and pugilistic journal n+1, which was greeted by some as a kind of knowing, intellectual stunt. "Oh, no," Gessen, who has heavy brows and a wide Russian mouth, said one recent evening. "It wasn't a joke." That first issue was dedicated mostly to outlining what it opposed. "We were against the New Republic, we were against McSweeney's, we were against the war, we were against exercise," Gessen continued, sitting in a dive bar on the Upper West Side, where he once lived in an illegal sublet before decamping for Brooklyn, like most of the city's other literati. "And to this day we're against many things."For the whole shebang, click here.

Sunday, April 20, 2008

Disney is seeking a ghostwriter for Miley Cyrus' upcoming autobiography. Via Detnews.com: She has only lived 15 years, but the folks at Disney Books want to detail the life and times of Miley Cyrus, reports OK! Since it is an autobiography, Miley will not be slaving in the wee hours of the night, texting her life story to publishers. Instead, they are seeking a ghostwriter for the honors.Wait a minute. If Cyrus ain't writing it, is it still an autobiography?

Dustin Evans, the one-time artist of Disney Adventures' Pirates of the Caribbean comic strip (and colorist for the Gargoyles strip), is debuting a new comic book this summer, titled Imaginary Friends. According to Evans, Imaginary Friends, is "great for people who love ‘popcorn movies. There is a lot of action, comedy and great characters that drive the story. The plot revolves around six Imaginary Characters, being led by their fearless leader, Rex Montana, to save the world from certain doom. The question is can a clown, skeleton, pageant winner, deer-man, action hero and small child actually save the world?”For the full scoop, click here.

Rick Riordan, author of Percy Jackson series, has signed a book deal with Disney. Via LA Business: Rick Riordan has signed a multi-book deal with Disney Publishing Worldwide (DPW) for an original fantasy series. Financial terms of the deal were not released...A new Web site, www.PercyJacksonBooks.com, will launch in the U.S. in April 2008 and will feature exclusive content, interactive games, tour information and related news. DPW is the world's largest publisher of children's books and magazines, with over 400 children's magazines published and 120 million children's books sold each year. Headquartered in New York, DPW publishes books and magazines in 85 languages in 75 countries, reaching more than 100 million readers each month.

The Dangerous Book for Boys is going to be be adapted for the big and little screens. A fact-based series featuring celebrity fathers and their sons is set to appear on British television later this year, while Disney has purchased the rights to make a film version...some day.A lot more words (but not a whole heckuva lot more information) can be found here.